As we anticipated the release of new CDC data on overdose deaths, those of us who specialize in substance use disorders braced for grim statistics, but this milestone was still shocking: over 100,000 lives lost to overdoses in one year, the great major…
A recent headline in my neighborhood newspaper read, “A Dentist Became a Top Opioid Buyer in W. Va. Now a Drug Firm Faces Penalty for Ignoring Red Flags.” The drug firm sent 25,400 hydrocodone pills and 3,600 Xanax to one Huntington, WV are…
When the FDA approved Gilead’s Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil) for HIV PrEP in 2012, it was a revolutionary step forward. The drug was safe and up to 99 percent effective in preventing HIV infection in at-risk individuals. Then in 20…
How did we Americans allow health insurers to dictate how physicians practice good medicine? The hypocritic oath says, “Do no harm.” We should not allow insurance company profits to prevent proper care for patients. Our insurer is now telli…
I was asked this question at least three times this week, so I think there must be something going around. It doesn’t help that a Kardashian with 140 million Instagram followers recently signed a deal to become an equity partner and global spokeswoman…
In 2017, Allergan CEO Brent Saunders promised to reign in drug price hikes, and other Pharma companies followed suit. In 2021, it looks like all bets are off. In August, Amgen raised the price of its psoriasis med Otezla by 2.4 percent after raising th…
Creative photography Year after year, new medications find their way into the market, adding to the abundant and colorful world of pharmaceuticals. Medications play a dual role in our lives, as they represent wellness and illness concomitantly. I am pr…
Woodworking / Illustration The problem with the act of taking medications is that it’s so mundane that we don’t see any problem with it. This machine-cut, flat, unemotional, same-size-fits-all object that we defencelessly welcome in our very private bo…
Pyrography Medicine bottles are mundane objects tightly woven into our daily lives, with the promise of happier moods, better sleep, and lower blood pressure. Nevertheless, nothing on these objects correlates with hope, faith, or a feeling of healthine…
I just opened my email inbox to see the following headline: “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) will finally release a draft of their long-awaited federal cannabis…
